Her Personal Avenger
by TheLittleRipper
Summary: Billy may never admit it, but Jane's not oblivious to the fact that every guy who hurts her seems to always mysteriously end up with a black eye the next day. A short, fluff-ish Jane/Billy friendship fic. Oneshot.


**Hey guys! So I know that this fic is kinda out of my territory, since my FF home is in Vampire Diaries land making stories for the best OTP ever, which is Tyler&Caroline, but I've recently been watching Jane By Design (part of my PLL withdrawal syndrome), and I've really gotten into it. So I just couldn't help myself when I'd gotten the sudden burst of inspiration to write something about the adorableness that is Jane&Billy. What I would give to have a friendship like theirs. My heart ships them so much. They're up there right next to Ezra&Aria in PLL, which is only second to Ty&Care.  
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**But enough about that. I'll let you guys get to reading (and hopefully, reviewing)!  
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_**Her Personal Avenger**_

When Jane Quimby was in the third grade, a boy named Joey Valeski kicked sand in her face during recess. She spent the rest of the day crying in the nurse's office while her best friend, Billy Nutter, waited for her outside, hiding from teachers walking past so as to avoid being sent back to class and being forced to leave his little Janey. The next day in class, all of Jane's classmates were huddled over Joey in fascination. On his face was the first black eye any of the children had ever seen outside of movies and television.

It was also the first time Billy had ever spent his recess in the principal's office.

* * *

In fifth grade, Allan Fields cracked a joke in their English class about how Plain Jane's mommy wasn't around because her daughter was so boring. The whole class laughed and Jane spent the rest of the day quietly drawing pretty dresses whilst hiding in a supply closet. It was also the first time Billy hadn't accompanied her home.

The next day, everyone was staring at Allan's left eye. It was so bruised that he could hardly keep it open.

* * *

Billy's older brother Tommy gets drunk for the first time during the summer before he and Jane start middle school. He gets drunk in the middle of the day, no less, and comes home to see Billy and Jane riding their bikes on the driveway in front of their apartment building. Jane's loud and excited laughter gives Tommy a throbbing headache. So, without realizing what he's doing, he pushes Jane off her pink bicycle as she zooms down the curb. Jane lands on the hard, concrete ground with a loud thud and her bike landing right on top of her. It hurts so bad that Billy has to serve as a human crutch when he takes her home. And once she's in the comfort of her bed, it takes some effort to convince him that she's fine and that he should head home. Later that evening, Billy calls her up and apologizes about having to cancel anything fun they had planned that week. His mom had just grounded him.

When Tommy shows up at the Quimby's doorstep the next morning to return Jane's bicycle (she'd left it at Billy's because it had been too hard to bring it home), she sees him sporting a hangover and _two_ very dark bruises around his eyes.

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Jane experiences her first kiss at the age of thirteen. It happens at her first real party during a game of spin the bottle with Conor Reynolds, a cute, fourteen year old boy who tells her she has pretty hair and proceeds to charm her the rest of the night. But when she tries to talk to him the Monday after the party, he's with his friends and does nothing but snicker and shoo her away in front of everyone. She doesn't speak the rest of the day at school, and the next day, overhears a group of girls gossiping about Conor.

"Did you see it? I've never seen a black eye that big before."

"Totally! Who do you think did it?"

"No one knows. Conor's not talking."

Jane tells Billy about it later at lunch, and asks him if he knows anything about it. Billy simply shrugs as he takes another bite of his apple, and says, "No idea. But if you ask me, he got what he deserved."

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In her sophomore year of high school, Jane's father dies of a heart attack. She swears it's the worst thing that has ever happened to her and spends days alone in her room, her face buried in a tear-stained pillow. She's still distraught on her first day back at school since his death, that she trips and spills her lunch all over her outfit. The whole courtyard is silent until Wes Grimley starts to crack up and encourage the others to laugh with him. When the bell rings, Jane skips her remaining classes and spends the rest of the day at home.

She gathers her courage and returns to school the next day, and spots Wes in the hallway wearing a large pair of sunglasses, even if it's late October and there's hardly any sun outside, much less indoors. As Billy approaches her at the locker, she notices him subtly massaging his right hand, its knuckles a bright shade of red.

"Are you okay?" she asks him, nodding down at his hand.

"Oh, this? S'nothing. Just a little sore."

She nods, choosing not to ask how or why it got to be sore, and doesn't bring it up again the rest of the day.

* * *

Jane wasn't entirely sure if Nick Fadden was her boyfriend. They'd sort of gone out a few times and had made out once or twice too, but they'd never really gotten to putting a label on what they were to each other. Nevertheless, she was pretty sure that him kissing Lulu Pope—_Billy's girlfriend_ of all people—behind her back during their school camping trip counted as cheating. What made it worse was that it was Billy who had caught them, and it had been the trigger which started the series of events that had landed him an overnighter in jail.

She's sitting at home on the couch with her head resting on Billy's shoulder. Jane thinks back to the last time they'd been in this position. It was when they'd made up after having the biggest fight in the history of their friendship; when Jane had found out that Billy had been keeping from her the fact that he'd been hooking up with Lulu, her childhood tormentor, for months. He'd come over to apologize that night and Jane, tired from a long day of work and missing her best friend, had finally conceded to forgive him.

"I'm sorry about Lulu, Billy," Jane whispered, breaking their comfortable silence. "Really, I am. I know you really liked her."

Billy sighs heavily and holds her a bit tighter. "We were on the rocks anyway, so I can't say that I'm entirely surprised." She feels him shift a little so that he can look down at her. "To be honest, I'm actually more pissed off at Nick. He had no right to hurt you like that."

They remain quiet for a few seconds before a thought comes to her mind. "Hey, Billy?"

Billy looks down at her again, this time curious to hear what she has to say. "Yeah, Janey?"

She lifts her head from his shoulder and sits up so that she's looking right at him as she speaks. "Promise me you won't do what you always do. I know you're mad at Nick and all, but you have a _court_ hearing tomorrow. You can't risk getting into any more trouble. Promise?"

Billy simply chuckles and pulls her in to a one-armed embrace. "Fine, I promise I'll let him off the hook, just this once. But you should know that this will be the first and last time that I won't do my job."

At that, Jane smiles and leans back into him. It's the first time either of them has ever acknowledged what Billy has been doing for her all these years. Sure he may never had mentioned it, much less admitted to it, but Jane has always known. It was always Billy who was behind all those "karmic" punches that any guy who tried to do her wrong had experienced over the years.

She'd never admit it, because it sounds so selfish, but the reason why she'd never brought it up before was because she kind of liked it. No, it wasn't the hurting part that she liked; it was actually what she liked least about the situation. It wasn't about the idea of having somewhat a personal avenger either. What she always liked was how nice it felt to know that someone actually cared when she got hurt.

And it was especially nice to know that that person was Billy.

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**So what did you guys think? A hit or a miss? Click that review button and tell me! Pretty please, with virtual cherries on top? :3**


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